Greetings, Georgia.

It's Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
 

Former Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who started treatment for Stage 3 esophageal cancer this week, is turning his fight into a campaign to raise money for a cure. This past weekend, he and his team raised $50,000 for the Georgia Cancer Center’s “Unite in the Fight” 1.5-mile walk.

Workers in Georgia at one of the nation's largest school bus manufacturers have voted to unionize. Employees at Blue Bird Corp. chose to be represented by the United Steelworkers union by a vote of 697-435, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

This is Georgia Today.

TOP STORIES

✭ In Marietta, a new 'wellness room’ helps police officers decompress

Marietta Police Department Sgt. Ray Figueroa sits in the headquarters’ new wellness room, which officers have dubbed the "Zen den." Departments across the country are placing more emphasis on officers’ mental health and well-being. (Katja Ridderbusch)

Sgt. Ray Figueroa shuts the door, dims the light, and sinks into a black massage chair. He’s had a particularly stressful day.

The rushing sound of a mountain river flows from the speakers inside this small room at the Marietta Police Department.

• “I had to come in here for 15 minutes because I needed some quiet,” he said.

Figueroa, originally from New Jersey, has been with the Marietta Police for 22 years. A former SWAT team member, he is now assigned to the training unit. Initially, he was skeptical about the new wellness room — called “Zen den” by some officers — that opened a few weeks ago.

He said law enforcement is an environment packed “with alpha males and alpha females.” He never thought the idea of getting them to come into a room, listen to some soft music and relax would work — until he tried it himself.

• “And I said, 'Well, it’s actually pretty nice.'”

✭ Trauma care in Georgia is strained, and a rural review points to systemic failures

The emergency room entrance at Macon's Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center, a Level 1 designated trauma center, on July 16, 2020. (Grant Blankenship / GPB News)

In January, representatives from the American College of Surgeons heard testimony from nurses, hospital directors and public health administrators who all shared similar stories about limited trauma services in rural Georgia. 

• “We had a patient that we really are not positioned to take care of that we've held for nine hours in our emergency department,” said CEO of Jeff Davis Hospital, Barry Bloom. 
• “Realistically, as a paramedic, an hour away from a Level 1 trauma center, an hour and a half away from a Level 1 trauma center, it's like me trying to fly to the moon with a seriously injured patient,” said emergency service provider Rafe Waters. 

This was the second review of Georgia’s trauma system by the American College of Surgeons, which sets most standards for trauma hospitals in the state. The state Office of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma Facilities signs off on trauma center designations for hospitals,  but both agencies conduct site visits. 

GPB NEWS HEADLINES

• Nearly 300 residents attended an Atlanta City Council on Monday to speak out against a plan to allocate over $30 million to build the police training center. Public comment lasted over 7 hours. Opposition to the facility has been growing since the shooting death of an environmental activist during a forest raid by law enforcement in January near the site of the planned center.
   

• The Georgia Department of Public Health has begun testing a three-year pilot program in more than a dozen counties. The Georgia Home Visiting Program is designed to curb the state's worsening maternal and infant mortality rate and is launching in Coffee, Atkinson, Clinch, Jeff Davis, Evans, Candler, Toombs, Bulloch, Habersham, Stephens, Franklin, Hart and Banks counties.
   
• A lot of offices are still empty — and it's becoming a major risk for the economy.

WHO KNEW?

✭ See a green anole in your yard? Why these 'redneck' lizards thrive in the Georgia summer

(J.D. Willson / UGA)

Green anole lizards are native to the Southeast, but they thrive particularly well in Georgia and South Carolina along the Savannah River that runs from the foothills to the coast.

The species Anolis carolinensis can grow to more than six inches long and is characterized by its neon green body color, which changes to brown in times of stress. The lizard is also known for its pigmented neck skin, which becomes bright red or pink when males expand a 'dewlap' — an air pouch similar to a pelican's throat pouch—to mark their territory.

Although the lizard changes colors, it is not a true chameleon, according to the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. The green anole is the only anole species native to the U.S., although several other species have been introduced in Florida and are expanding their ranges northward. 

Anoles are carnivorous and live on insects, spiders and other invertebrates. They are active in warm weather and like to sunbathe on railings, patios, sidewalks and decks. Green anoles are found in urban and suburban areas throughout Georgia, but generally not in mountainous regions.

On Political Rewind's latest episode: Title 42, a pandemic-era restriction on migration, came to an end last week. Politicians on both sides have been waiting to see how immigration would change. We break down the results with an expert. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Georgians could lose Medicaid benefits. #gapol

Tune into GPB Radio and GPB.org at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. for Political Rewind.

Today on Political Rewind: Cody Hall, senior advisor to Gov. Brian Kemp, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein join the panel.